School count finds search for jobs driving many students from schools

Chronicle file photoWednesday was pupil count day in Michigan. Many schools experienced a drop in enrollment since school began in September. Some superintendents said the economy is contributing to the drop as families seek jobs elsewhere.

The family with six children couldn't make it in Newaygo anymore, so they headed west.

Their departure was a blow to Newaygo Public Schools, which, like many area schools, has suffered a drop in enrollment since school started in September.

“Boom, gone,” Newaygo Superintendent Larry Lethorn said of the family that headed to North or South Dakota, he can't remember which, where a job was waiting. “That's what's going on. These people have to look out for their families first.”

Wednesday was pupil count day in Michigan, the second of the year. For many school districts, watching enrollment is akin to riding a roller coaster. Reeths-Puffer officials were celebrating in September, when the count showed an increase of 54 students since the prior fall. But on Wednesday, it was another story. Seventy-four students had left since September, leaving administrators wondering what happened.

Student count numbers

February compared to September

MUSKEGON COUNTY

• Fruitport: 3,024 (up 13)

• Holton: 925 (down 23)

• Mona Shores: 3,858 (up 23)

• Montague: 1,454 (down 3)

• Muskegon: 4,693 (down 178)

• Muskegon Heights: 1,532 (up 34)

• North Muskegon: 943 (down 9)

• Oakridge: 1,860 (down 10)

• Orchard View: 2,628 (down 62)

• Ravenna: 1,037 (up 12)

• Reeths-Puffer: 3,943 (down 74)

• Three Oaks: 294 (down 6)

• Timberland: 414, (down 7)

• Waypoint: 215 (down 11)

• Whitehall: 2,061 (down 21)

OTTAWA COUNTY

• Coopersville: N/A

• Grand Haven: 5,967 (down 18)

• Spring Lake: 2,447 (up 20)

• Walden Green: 210 (down 10)

• W. Mich Acad Arts/Acad.: 385 (up 13)

NEWAYGO COUNTY

• Fremont: 2,243 (down 28)

• Grant: 2,084 (down 81)

• Newaygo: 1,757 (down 37)

• White Cloud: 1,101 (down 20)

OCEANA COUNTY

• Hart: 1,150 (down 76)

• Hesperia: 1,142 (down 14)

• Pentwater: 272 (down 3)

• Shelby: 1,505 (down 49)

• Walkerville: 263 (down 68)

“Seventy-four is certainly more than we were anticipating,” said Reeths-Puffer Schools Superintendent Steve Edwards. “We are conducting a thorough review to identify where and why we lost those students.”

Districts' February student counts will be combined with the ones from September 2011 to determine how much per-pupil funding schools will receive from the state next year. The February numbers account for 25 percent of that “blended count.”

“Any loss of students has a detrimental effect on a budget whose primary source of revenue is state aid payments that are tied to student enrollment,” Edwards said.

In Muskegon County, schools reported an overall drop of 322 students, the majority of whom — 178 — left Muskegon Public Schools.

Muskegon Heights led schools reporting increases, with 34 additional students since September. Ravenna, Fruitport, Mona Shores, Spring Lake and the West Michigan Academy for Arts & Academics also recorded student increases during the school year.

Coopersville officials had not released their number Thursday. Three Oaks Charter Academy, which was closed Wednesday due to boiler problems, had its count Thursday.

Lethorn knows families in Newaygo are continuing to leave because of the poor economy. It's a decline that started six years ago, when the district had topped out at 2,100 students. Now there are 1,757.

“So many of our families just aren't making it,” Lethorn said. “You look at these families when they walk in the door, and you see it on their faces. You see it in the stress in the kids.”

He said he's seen students “who've left, come back, left, come back.” He also knows of at least 40 families who are living together, “doubling up” to save housing expenses.

“You like to believe what you're hearing about Michigan's economy turning around,” Lethorn said. “It's hard to confirm that here.

“There's just no options for them ... They're not staying here.”

Fruitport's gain of 13 students since September is good financial news for the schools, but not necessarily for families. Superintendent Bob Szymoniak said those students were in families who left the area to find work, but ended up returning. The district counted 104 fewer students in September than it had a year earlier.

“Some of our families are leaving and looking for jobs and apparently, they're not finding it and coming back,” Szymoniak said. “I really believe over the course of the summer they left and now they've come back. I think our enrollment is being driven as much by the economy as the birthrate.”

Grant Public Schools was down 81 students since September while Shelby was down 49. Officials there attribute those mid-year losses, which are typical for them, to migrant families' transiency.

But Grand Haven Public Schools lost 18 students since September, far less than typically happens with the February count, said Superintendent, Keith Konarska. He attributed his student loss to migrant families, but said typically the loss is more around 30 students.

He's not sure why the drop is less this year, but he's happy to take the “good news.”

Spring Lake gained 20 students since September, and Ravenna Public Schools gained 12.

Ravenna Superintendent John VanLoon believes students may be attracted to his district because of new facilities — including a brand new middle school — and improvements in student achievement that have been shown in standardized test scores. While the district loses more students than it gains from the schools-of-choice option, VanLoon said he has seen some students who had chosen to attend other districts starting to return.

“We've tried to explain and spread the word we're doing good things out here in Ravenna,” Van Loon said.